Kitwe-Ndola road works impress RDA

THE periodic road maintenance on the Kitwe-Ndola dual carriageway at a cost of K290.2 million has gained momentum with the contractor making steady progress much to the satisfaction of the Road Development Agency (RDA).

The periodic road maintenance whose works involved edge repair, pothole patching, reconstruction of some road sections and resurfacing of the entire road was aimed at giving a face-lift to the Kitwe-Ndola dual carriageway, which had not received any maintenance in a long time.

An RDA delegation led by head of public relations Loyce Saili which on Tuesday inspected the 64-kilometre stretch extending from the junction of President Avenue and Broadway in Ndola up to Mukuba Pension House in Kitwe expressed happiness with progress made.

Ms Saili was happy with the contractor China Jiangxi for the progress made on the Kitwe-Ndola dual carriageway with over 20 per cent of the work already done.

“This is an 18 months project, which started in November 2012 and is scheduled to complete in May next year,” Ms Saili said.

She said the RDA undertook to conduct periodic maintenance on the dual carriageway because of was a strategic road with a huge bearing on the national economy.

“You know this road was built a long time ago and has not received any maintenance and because of the heavy haulage passing through, the road has been stressed and before it completely gives in, we thought it necessary to work on it,” she said.

She said a stretch of 22 kilometres out of the total 64 was earmarked for complete reconstruction in addition to repairing the edges which had been damaged causing the road to become narrow.

China Jiangxi assistant manager Cui Liubing was confident of completing the works on schedule despite the challenge of relocating the power line which the contractor was facing.

Later, Ms Saili who was accompanied by RDA Copperbelt senior engineer George Chitonena conducted an inspection on the road construction projects on the 13.7 kilometre Sabina-Mufulira and the 63 kilometer Kalulushi-Lufwanyama roads.

Ms Saili similarly expressed happiness with progress and the quality of works being carried out by China Geo Engineering Southern African Ltd.

The company is working on the Mufulira-Sabina Road at a cost of K80.6 million. Inyatsi Construction Zambia Ltd is working on the Kalulushi-Lufwanyama Road at a cost of K123.1 million.

She described the Mufulira-Sabina and Kalulushi-Lufwanyama as strategic roads with the former providing a short-cut link to and from Kalulushi District for all motorists going and coming from Mufulira and Chingola districts respectively.

“We are happy also as RDA because Lufwanyama was the only district on the Copperbelt without a tarred road and now the road has been tarred,” she said.

She said the importance of the Kalulushi-Lufwanyama Road could not be over emphasised as it was a well known fact that Lufwanyama was apart from being an agricultural district also richly endowed with minerals.

Nathan Chilukwa, who is assistant resident engineer of BCHOD who are the consultants for the Kalulushi-Lufwanyama Road works said the project was complete save for minor touches such as drainages and signage.